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Nov 8: New Orleans Bowl Update
Nov 8, 2002
Author: Sam Joffray
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Sam Joffray
Director of Communications
Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation
office: 504-619-6101
cell: 504-915-9813
sjoffray@gnosf.org
http://www.neworleansbowl.org

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NEW ORLEANS BOWL UPDATE FOR NOVEMBER 8, 2002
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SUN BELT CONFERENCE
Standings thru Nov. 4, 2002

TEAM OVERALL CONFERENCE
W L W L
New Mexico State 6 3 4 0
North Texas 4 5 3 0
Arkansas State 5 6 2 2
Idaho 2 7 1 2
Middle Tennessee 2 7 1 3
UL Lafayette 2 7 1 3
UL Monroe 2 7 1 3

UPCOMING GAMES
Sat., Nov. 9
Louisiana-Monroe at Auburn, 1 p.m. (Pay-per-view)
New Mexico State at Utah State, 2 p.m. (1 p.m. MST)
*Arkansas State at Louisiana-Lafayette, 4 p.m.
*Idaho at North Texas, 6 p.m. (4 p.m. PST; Sun Belt-ESPN Regional)
* = Sun Belt Conference game
HC = Homecoming game

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Sat., Nov. 2
Arkansas State d. Southern Utah, 38-16
*Louisiana-Lafayette d. Idaho, 31-28
*North Texas d. Louisiana-Monroe, 41-2
*New Mexico State d. Middle Tenn., 24-21

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CONFERENCE USA..
Standings thru Nov. 4, 2002

TEAM OVERALL CONFERENCE
W L W L
TCU 7 1 4 1
Southern Miss 5 3 3 1
UAB 4 4 3 1
East Carolina 2 5 2 1
Tulane 6 3 3 2
Cincinnati 4 5 3 2
Louisville 5 4 3 2
Houston 4 4 2 3
Memphis 2 7 1 5
Army 0 8 0 6

UPCOMING GAMES
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9
East Carolina at Houston
Southern Miss at UAB
Tulane at TCU
Air Force at Army
Memphis at South Florida

RECENT RESULTS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2
Houston 26, Memphis 21
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30
TCU 37, Southern Miss 7
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7
Cincinnati 24, Louisville 14

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SUN BELT CONFERENCE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
November 4, 2002

OFFENSE
New Mexico State - Paul Dombrowski, QB, *Ran for 112 yards and a touchdown and completed 13 of 22 passes for 154 yards and another score...Threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to H.B. Briscoe and had a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to give the Aggies a 24-14 lead...Had 68 yards rushing in the second half.
DEFENSE
North Texas - Darrell Daniels, DE *Had a career-high three quarterback sacks and totaled six tackles to lead the North Texas defense in the win over Louisiana-Monroe...Led the defense in holding an offense that had averaged 505 yards in its previous four games to just 186 yards...Also batted down three passes against the Indians to help the cause...The Mean Green defense has not allowed a score in eight straight quarters.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Middle Tennessee - Robert Billings, Jr., *Booted a career long 68-yard punt in the game...Punted four times for an average of 56.5 yards...Two of his punts were downed inside the 10-yard line...Three of his punts went for more than 50 yards.

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CUSA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
November 4, 2002

OFFENSE
Lonta Hobbs RB TCU *The true freshman tailback carried 15 times for a career-high 123 yards and three touchdowns in TCU’s 37-7 win over Southern Miss. He scored on touchdown runs of 15, 53 and 13 yards, while averaging 8.2 yards per carry. Hobbs is the first Horned Frog to score three touchdowns in a game since LaDainian Tomlinson scored three times vs. UTEP on November 18, 2000.

DEFENSE
LaMarcus McDonald LB TCU *McDonald led TCU in tackles for the seventh time this season, getting in on a game-high 16 stops, including four sacks and six tackles for loss, totaling 15 yards, in the Frogs’ win over Southern Miss. The TCU defense limited the Golden Eagles to just 185 total yards.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Nick Browne K TCU *Browne scored 13 points in TCU’s win over Southern Miss, kicking three field goals and all four extra point attempts. He hit his 17th, 18th and 19th field goals of the season, connecting from 29, 30 and 48 yards. Browne is second in the nation in field goals made.

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SUN BELT PREVIEWS FOR THE WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER 8th
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Arkansas State at Louisiana-Lafayette
Arkansas State is the iron-man football team in Division IA. The Indians will play 13 games in 12 weeks. ASU is the only IA team playing in its 12th game of the season this week. Iowa, Kansas and San Jose State are the only other IA teams that will play their whole seasons without an off-week...The last four games between these teams have been decided by a total of 15 points...One of the most-played rivalries in ASU history.

Idaho at North Texas
The Vandals have won the last two meetings in Denton. In 2000 UI came away with a 16-14 win...Last year’s Mean Green win in Moscow gave North Texas the invitation to the inaugural New Orleans Bowl and a share of the Sun Belt title. North Texas put the game away with 22 points in the third quarter, after going into the locker room at halftime down 19-14. Freshman RB Patrick Cobbs scored two touchdowns for the Mean Green.

Louisiana-Monroe at Auburn
The Indians played Auburn for three years in a row from 1994 to 1996 with the score of each game getting a little closer each year - 1994, 44-12; 1995, 21-14; and 1996, 28-24...This weekend’s crowd at Auburn is expected to be one of the top five groups to see the Indians play...This is the second SEC opponent that ULM will face this season. The Indians lost to Ole Miss on Aug. 31, 31-3...This is the third of four consecutive weeks that the Indians will be someone’s Homecoming opponent.

New Mexico State at Utah State
The first meeting between the two teams was the 1960 Sun Bowl, which NMSU won, 20-13...Utah State won 19 consecutive games in the series from 1968-98...The series took a break from 1974-84, then resumed in 1985. The teams played every year since then through 2000...During that time the teams competed against each other in the Big West Conference. Beginning next year they will be conference foes again when Utah State joins the Sun Belt in football.

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CONFERENCE USA PREVIEWS FOR THE WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER 8th
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AIR FORCE at ARMY
Air Force looks to end a three-game losing streak against an Army team seeking its first win of the season. The Black Knights will be seeking to snap a five-game winning streak by the Falcons in the series, which has been played each year since 1971. Air Force QB Chance Harridge has passed for just 636 yards and six TDs, but has rushed for a team-high 852 yards and 17 TDs.

EAST CAROLINA at HOUSTON
East Carolina has won the last meetings, including a 19-3 decision in 1999, the last time the teams met in Houston. The game features a matchup between two of the league’s most productive running backs in Houston’s Joffrey Reynolds and ECU’s Art Brown.

MEMPHIS at SOUTH FLORIDA
South Florida, which joins Conference USA next season for football, looks to improve to 3-0 against league competition this fall (the Bulls own wins over Southern Miss and East Carolina). Memphis is seeking to snap a five-game losing streak. The Tigers won the first-ever meeting between the schools last season, 17-9 in Memphis.

SOUTHERN MISS at UAB
A pair of teams tied for second place in Conference USA with 3-1 league records meet at Legion Field. Both of the meetings in this series have been decided by three points. Southern Miss won a defensive struggle in Hattiesburg last year, 3-0, and the Golden Eagles took the only meeting in Birmingham, 33-30 in overtime in 2000.

TULANE at TCU
The two hottest teams in Conference USA meet when Tulane, winners of four straight, travels to TCU, which has won seven in a row. Both teams are also bowl-eligible. For TCU, it would mark the fifth straight year that the Horned Frogs will go to a bowl, while Tulane could make its first bowl appearance since 1998.

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For tickets to the 2nd Annual New Orleans Bowl, call
504-522-5555
or visit ticketmaster.com
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